Feminist Approach on Human Trafficking
Author
Institution
Introduction
Human trafficking has been one of the most controversial issues in the contemporary human society. This is especially considering the increased attention that is given to human rights. Human trafficking is defined as the trade in human beings usually with the aim of taking them to sexual slavery, extraction of tissues and organs, as well as forced labor. A comprehensive definition underlines human trafficking as the recruitment, transfer, transportation, as well as receipt and harboring of individuals through the use of force or threat, or even other types of coercion, fraud, abduction, deception, abuse of power or the vulnerability of the victims, or even the receipt and provision of benefits and payments so as to achieve the consent of an individual who has control over another individual with the sole aim of exploitation (Aronowitz, 2009). It is worth noting that human trafficking may involve children, women and men trafficked within their own countries or even across international borders (Whisnant, 2004).
Underlining the intensity and widespread nature of human trafficking is the fact that every country has the vice either as a country of origin, transit country in which the trafficked individuals are taken through or even destination countries in which the trafficked individuals would eventually be taken. In most cases, a country will incorporate the three aspects. It is often impossible to get credible statistics pertaining to the scale or human trafficking thanks to its illegal and hidden nature (Whisnant, 2004). Nevertheless, research shows that 600,000-800,000 children, men and women are victims of trans-border human trafficking every year. It is worth noting, however, that about 50 percent of the victims are minors, while 80 percent of them are girls and women. Two approaches have been used in examining human trafficking, with the feminist approach being the most popular.
The feminist approach or perspective to human trafficking, equates trafficking to the trafficking of women, (and children to a lesser extent), for the sole aim of sexual exploitation (Kara, 2009). This perspective, therefore, sees man as the owner of the industry and the buyer, while women are seen as the commodity or the demand. Indeed, the perspective examines human trafficking as an extension of patriarchy, where a man is persistently striving to be perpetually dominant over women (Kara, 2009). This perspective sees the relationship as perennially exploitative, while recognizing the apparent violence that is prevalent in the sex industry.
The feminist approach does not concentrate much on the aspect of trafficked individuals being undocumented migrants or even undesirable threats to the national security, rather they lay emphasis on their status as victims. Indeed, they primarily focus on varied aspects of violations of human rights that are encompassed by trafficking (Cullen-DuPont, 2009). Narratives from victims of human trafficking are used in dramatizing their abuses. This exercise is based on a venerable tradition pertaining to valuing the voices of women, as well as incorporating their experiences in theory. It is legally and rhetorically significant that human trafficking encompasses not only aspects that a large number of individuals would see as undesirable or morally repugnant, but also abuses that would be seen as specifically contravening the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Trương et al, 2007).
The activists’ capacity to forcefully connect the trafficked persons plight to a document that virtually all states have endorsed is essential to the shifting of international efforts from a state or border security approach to an approach that would be centered on the victims and seen them as vulnerable humans and not dangerous threats to international and national security. On the same note, human rights language requires that state governments have an obligation to protect people in their territories against any abuse of their human rights even in instances where the individuals are not in that state legally (Jeffreys, 2008). Feminists protest the examination of trafficked individuals as criminals rather than victims noting that the victims suffer two instances of victimization. They may be victimized by the traffickers, or even the host governments. As much as there are protocols written in an effort to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary migration, state security apparatuses and border control agencies see individuals who have been trafficked against their will as voluntary undocumented migrants (Jeffreys, 2008). Indeed, these agencies primarily consider the illegal entry of these individuals into the country as more crucial than the question on whether their entry into the country was voluntary or involuntary.
As a response to the views of feminists, states have introduced varied measures of victim protection. In the United States, for instance, the victims of human trafficking would be provided with medical care alongside other social services, with the possibility of obtaining T-visas for victims that would assist the law enforcement agencies in the prosecution of the traffickers (Cullen-DuPont, 2009). Similar provisions are made in the European Union, where the trafficking victims would be provided with healthcare services, housing and legal assistance in the short reflection period. They can use this reflection period to determine whether they would assist the authorities in the apprehension and prosecution of the traffickers, upon which they would obtain some more assistance and short-term residence permit (Liu, 2011). However, this has also attracted criticism from feminists who opine that putting the assistance and protection of victims as conditional to their cooperation with the authorities would amount to subordination of their rights and needs to the states’ security needs. Such a scenario would give the states the sole discretion in determining whether or not the individual cases would need to be prosecuted (Aronowitz, 2009).
While there are variations as to the appropriate remedy for human trafficking on women, there has been general agreement that sexual exploitation is at the heart of the crime. Indeed, a large number of trafficked women are inducted into prostitution either within their own countries or in foreign lands. This underlines the notion that any fight against trafficking would have to incorporate a fight against prostitution. Researchers have noted that the only difference between street prostitution and traffic in women is that the latter involves going across international borders (Liu, 2011). This means that the distinction between voluntary and involuntary prostitution would have to be eliminated. To make matters worse, women who take part in or even render their support for prostitution would, essentially, be actively supporting the exploitation of women in patriarchal societies (Trương et al, 2007).
The sexual enslavement of women does not only involve crossing borders rather it encompasses all women who are under the patriarchal orders. In this case, the sexual victimhood of women is common irrespective of their nationality, ethnicity or class. Indeed, prostitution is simply a single aspect pertaining to the oppression of women sexually. Women may also be oppressed through battering, bride prices, dressing modes or even having children from incest (Liu, 2011). This underlines the importance of forming a transnational movement to combat female sexual slavery, based on the commonality of the experiences of women as victims. While prostitution simply represents a single element of the oppression of women, it doubles up as the most crystallized and extreme form of sexual exploitation.
However, an alternative feminist approach has sought to distance the fight against human trafficking from prostitution. Indeed, proponents of the new feminist approach underline the fact that trafficking is a reflection of a larger problem pertaining to the abusive treatment of low-wage laborers and migrants, which is not restricted to sex workers and prostitutes (Aronowitz, 2009). In this case, it would be imperative that all trafficked individuals are protected, whether they are forced non-sex or forced sex laborers. This means that prostitution is not the fundamental problem rather the key issue revolves around exploitation. This is especially considering that as much as a large number of victims of human trafficking are women, not all of them are sex workers. In fact, human trafficking does not necessarily have to be a component of the sex industry (Jeffreys, 2008).
As much as the sex industry, like other low –wage and low-status industries, is exploitative and abusive, it does not necessarily have to be the case. Indeed, prostitution or sex work is seen as an industry like any other that is simply susceptible to exploitative practices. This notion is in line with the aspect of sexual liberation as a fundamental aspect of women liberation. In essence, it would be preferable that the solutions concentrate on reducing the harm that is visited upon women rather than abolishing prostitution.
References
Liu, M. (2011). Migration, prostitution, and human trafficking: The voice of Chinese women. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Jeffreys, S. (2008). The idea of prostitution. North Melbourne, Vic: Spinifex.
Trương, T.-Đ., Wieringa, S., & Chhachhi, A. (2007). Engendering human security: Feminist perspectives. London: Zed Books.
Whisnant, R. (2004). Not for sale: Feminists resisting prostitution and pornography. North Melbourne, Vic: Spinifex Press.
Aronowitz, A. A. (2009). Human trafficking, human misery: The global trade in human beings. Westport, Conn: Praeger.
Cullen-DuPont, K. (2009). Human trafficking. New York, NY: Facts On File.
Kara, S. (2009). Sex trafficking: Inside the business of modern slavery. New York: Columbia University Press.
